16-year old with ISIS links questioned by Pune ATS

Pune: A 16-year old girl in Pune was reportedly radicalized by ISIS contacts from Syria. She was investigated by Pune’s Anti-terrorist squad (ATS) sleuths and sent to a de-radicalization programme.

After receiving information on the girl’s changing habits and growing inclination to watch ISIS related videos, ATS began monitoring her.

“The girl was interrogated by the ATS last week after monitoring her movements for many days on getting information about her. It confirmed her initiation by the ISIS. The interrogation of the girl revealed that she was ready to go to any extent to carry out the ISIS directive,” said Pune ATS officer Bhanupratap Barge.

The officer also added that the girl is a bright convent educated class 11 student studying at a city college.

According to the ATS, the minor girl watched a documentary on television and subsequently started regularly monitoring news on Al Jazeera channel.

“Later, she used the internet to get in touch with ISIS contacts and got in touch with about 200 young persons from different countries. Her interrogation revealed that she was told to come to Syria for medical education and for further initiation,” Barge said.

He said that she also replaced her Jeans with a full-length burqa, hinting at the effects of her growing engagement with ISIS.

“Even her family members noticed the change in her and felt disturbed,” the ATS inspector said.

The officer added that the de-radicalisation programme with the help of a community clergy and family members was ‘working’. (IANS) (image courtesy: theatlantic)

Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy on Monday said it would use privately-run ICICI Bank to allow its delivery fleet to make digital payments.

“Through the use of Unified Payment Interface (UPI)-based solution for instant fund transfers and automated cash deposit machines at ICICI Bank branches and ATMs across the country, the delivery fleet will have a hassle-free way of transferring funds,” the company said in a statement. Swiggy operates with a fleet of over 20,000 delivery persons delivering food from over 25,000 restaurants across 12 cities.

With cash-on-delivery being a widely used method of payment on the platform, the digital payment methods allow the delivery men to quickly transfer the funds to Swiggy, saving their time, according to the statement.

“With the delivery fleet being the backbone of Swiggy, the adoption of the digital payment solutions will support the ease of operations and save their time and thousands of kilometres of travel,” said the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Rahul Bothra in the statement. The digital payment methods will also help in preventing any cash leakages, the company said.

Founded in 2014, Swiggy aims to “change the way India eats” and is currently operational in cities like New Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai among a few others. IANS